


Session

by axumun



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Blindness, Darkness, Promises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 04:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3367262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axumun/pseuds/axumun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a profound loneliness in Riku's blindness, in the search for his morning-lit truth. </p>
<p>[character study of the end of KHII...SoRiku if you squint.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Session

This was a new, unfamiliar darkness. This was safe. There was no rage, no helplessness in this dark.

Riku's deliberate blindness restored his trust in himself. He consulted his hands and his feet for information about his surroundings. He relied on what he already knew so that he could make sense of the newness of being independent from his sight.

For now, though, he still held back from consulting his heart. It was still too tainted to see clearly.

The blindfold became an extension of Riku's body. In battle, he compensated easily for the blockage of his eyes. He could feel everything around him in vibrations, in pulses, in heartbeats. It didn't take too long for him to trust his blade even more than he trusted his own heart.

There was a profound loneliness in Riku's blindness, in the search for his morning-lit truth. He missed color, he missed conversation. He missed the waves. True, he wasn't totally alone. Mickey was out there somewhere, and would undoubtedly turn up soon. Kairi was safe. Sora was still snoozing, the lazy dork. Namine was watching over him, as she promised.

Except, he didn't want these connections to only exist in memories, in promises, in hopes. He wanted them to exist with him, walk alongside him, kindle his faith. Stoke the fire, burn away the dark.

Maybe it was a selfish desire. He pushed it aside. There was only himself. He had to reconcile with himself, anyhow, before he would dare face anybody.

-+-+-+-+-

Sora should have been awed as the battalion of Dusks before them was erased in popping flickers of light like sparklers. He should have been relieved. He wanted to be.

Yet all he could see as Riku - _Riku, it's Riku, Riku's here, I looked everywhere for you!!_ \- fell to his knees, his blade falling from his limp fingers, was a pillar of flame. Fiery red hair, a black coat shredded into nothingness thread by thread, wisp by wisp. Weak, contented green eyes making final promises.

Sora could practically feel his heart folding in on itself. No. Not now, not again, not here, not this time, not Riku. No more final promises, energies of entire burning souls lost in one final, eerie sacrifice in his name.

They were going home.

-+-+-+-+-

The colors and contours that taunted Riku in his blindness were sharper now. The light was painful to bear, especially the light in Sora.

His senses faltered when he used up his strength on the Dusks. He was alone with his heartbeat, and a single promise, the promise that had lingered between him and Sora for years now.

If death was this empty, that was okay. There was clarity, space. As a child he feared that death would be cluttered and rushed and prideless. This was an okay way to go.

That seemed like a viable option, until strong hands hauled him up by the shoulders. In that moment, death did not exist.

Sora's light blinded him again. This was by far his favorite blindness. This was the sight he'd missed the most.

Words bounced between them easily, as they always had, even now. The playful jealousy of childhood was dormant now. They had grown, together yet separately, on opposite sides, but for now the war had been won. Even if they wouldn't be a part of the victory celebration.

-+-+-+-+-

Sora expected the Realm of Darkness to be more lonely. He was wrong, perhaps only because he was in such good company. It wouldn't be so hard to exist here, to sleep soundly here, to regret nothing here.

Except it was too much of a tease of home. When he closed his eyes he could feel the sunlight. It sent a chill through his bones.

They'd finally overpowered what had oppressed the people they loved for so long. If they became the darkness, no harm would ever come to the Realm of Light again. They would become the harmony that kept it safe, in the place of the contrast that threatened to swallow it whole.

As he sat beside Riku, Sora caught a glimpse of his eyes. Weak, yet contented. They gazed back at him, like he'd hung the moon.

Well...as a matter of fact, he did.

-+-+-+-+-

Riku had never known such a calm in all of his years. He'd never felt such peace, coursing through his veins in warm bursts, buzzing through his head and freeing his heart. This was home, home enough.

His heart was quite trustworthy now, but the blackness of this realm placed vacancy back into his eyes. It was as if his blindness had returned, save for the reflection of the twilight on the water and the beacon burning in the heart of the boy beside him.

With the distraction of Riku's sight eliminated, and the sanctuary his being had found, it was both easy and necessary to spill his secrets, his burdens. He wished his eyes were strong enough to see forgiveness light up Sora's face, though he realized that he wouldn't have seen much.

To Sora, there was nothing to forgive.

-+-+-+-+-

It was a different promise that brought them home for real.

With so many lights burning around him once he felt his way to the shore, Riku felt like he was truly seeing again. He wanted to doubt his eyes, but he knew his distrust was just habit. This was too real. He felt the light of the very heart of the island burn through him.

Peace was no longer a force contained within him; it was home. It was a bright-eyed boy and a pure-hearted girl, it was a tiny royal mouse who'd never doubted the goodness inside of him. It was the memory of adventure and victory, the promise of rest and reconnection.

It was being able to trust his eyes again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was a tiny idea that came about after playing through the end of KHII for the gazillionth time; my friend noted something that I'd never paid attention to before. Riku's eyes are very distant, as if he's been blinded. She hypothesized that his eyes were still adjusting from the ~year that he wore a blindfold/couldn't see.


End file.
